The template {{anchor}} inserts one or more HTML fragment identifiers (anchor names) in a page. Those locations can then be linked to using [[#Location|...]] syntax. (Usually the first letter of the location is capitalised to reflect the common capitalisation used in section headers – see MOS:HEAD.)

Contents

Examples

{{anchor|Foo}}
could be linked to with [[#Foo|...]] from within the same article,
or it could be linked to with [[Article name#Foo|...]] from other articles and from redirects.

Anchors can be more suitable for inter-article linking than section titles are. For example:== {{anchor|Foo}} Section title ==
Here, links via [[Article name#Foo]] would remain valid even if the section were renamed. (Note that the anchor is placed before the section name; otherwise browsers may hide the section title from view.) However, as noted under Limitations below, it may be preferable to use direct HTML rather than the template within section titles:== <span id="Foo"></span> Section title ==

The template can be used to create multiple anchors with a single call. For example,{{anchor|Foo|Bar|baz}}
will create three anchors that can then be linked to with [[#Foo]], [[#Bar]] and [[#baz]].

Limitations

Anchor names that contain any character shown in the table on the right will not work as expected. However, any of these characters can be replaced with the "&#" codes shown for them here. Or, the pipe symbol and equals sign can be worked around with {{!}} and {{=}}, respectively. Markup code such as <sup> and <sub> (superscript and subscript) cannot be used. Most other characters, including white space and punctuation, are not a problem.

Anchor names should be unique on a page, and should not duplicate any heading titles. Duplicate anchors will not work as expected since the #location links go to the first anchor with that name. Duplicate anchors result in invalid HTML; you can check for duplicate anchors by running the page through the W3C Markup Validation Service.

If the template is added to a section title then the code will appear in the edit summary window when that section is edited, as in "/* {{anchor|Issues}}Limitations */ New issue". Also, when the section is saved, browsers may not return to the section. Consider using <span id="..."></span> directly, rather than using the anchor template, when in a section title.

Anchor links are case sensitive in some browsers, so treat all anchor links as case sensitive.

Use in tables

Anchors may be used within tables, subject to certain restrictions. The {{anchor}} template may be used in the caption and cells of a table, but not those portions of a table that are outside the caption and cells. It is used on the table's caption thus:

You need to ensure that the {{anchor}} is not in that portion of the markup intended for the classes, styles etc. Thus, {{anchor}} cannot be placed anywhere on lines that begin with {| (start of table) or |- (new row), and the following forms of cell are not valid:

If it is necessary for an anchor to be in any of these positions, a different technique is used - the id= attribute. This is placed in that portion of the markup where the classes, styles etc. may be used, as follows:

TemplateData

The template {{anchor}} inserts one or more HTML anchors in a page. Those locations can then be linked to using [[#location|...]] syntax. The parameters here are for convenience; no parameter name is required in the template itself.

Template parameters

Parameter

Description

Type

Status

First anchor

1

First anchor; Only the first anchor is required.

Default

empty

Example

empty

Auto value

empty

string

required

Second anchor

2

Second anchor.

Default

empty

Example

empty

Auto value

empty

string

optional

Third anchor

3

Third anchor. For additional anchors, just type in 4 as the parameter name for the next, 5 for the next after that, and so on.